Ok guys, my last thread i posted was about my water pump frustrations I've been dealing with. My previous two pumps have been bad. And another pump I kept having to deal w/ a leak between the block and the pump itself. My newest one was fine for about 200 miles and then my power steering went out so i jacked up the car only to find my fourth pump leaking out of the weep hole. The previous pump leaked where the shaft meets the pump. I know im not doing anything wrong here, could this possibly be my radiator cap? The first two pumps were re-mans from auto zone. The resent pump is a brand new pump from advance auto. What is the deal here? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Zach Horn
A.C.S.

 

Check around the car, of the cap is leaking it would be obvious. Since the pump is leaking from the weep hole it is basically the pump's fault. I know the feeling too about the pump causing faulty steering, when my pump was leaking I was about to change my rack and pinion (thought it was my steering problem) until I saw some puddles in the drive way.

If your not doing anything wrong with the install then I would suggest trying a different company. I went with a brand new water pump from O'Reilly's (gotta love discounts) and have had no problems what so ever. Advance IMO is only good for nick nacks other then that I would use O'Reillys, Autozone or NAPA.

 

NEVER USE AUTOZONE UNLESS YOU WANT SOMETHING TO BREAK. i WORK AT A SHOP THAT WON'T TOUCH THAT CRAP. USE NAPA OR O'RIELLY. NEVER USE REMAN UNLESS YOU HAVE TOO. OTHER THAN THAT SOME PARTS ARE JUST BAD, IT'S PART OF THE GAME. GOOD LUCK.

 

yeah, everything i've bought has failed too.

 

water leaking out the weep hole is usualy the bearings in the water pump. im pretty sure that if uve gone through that many pumps in a short time from different manufacturers then its not the quality of the pumps thats a problem. i would say that its probably somthing else on your car that is causing the problem. is it possible that somthing in the opti is bad or mabe somthing in there is installed incorectly and causing the bearings in the pump to wear prematurley?

 

I did install a new opti about 3000 miles ago and ever since, the pumps have been leaking. What would that have to do w/ it? I mean the car runs nice and all w/ the new opti. So you guys dont think it may be my cap on the radiator? Im runing out of ideas, and im going to return the P.O.S. pump today and try to get my money back. I will try napa. Any other ideas? Thanks guys.

Zach Horn

 

if you dont mind electric pumps, you could always go that route as well.

what would cause the mechanical pump bearings to wear prematurely? spinning it dry would be all i could think of. how would an opti installed wrong affect the water pump at all (keep in mind, i'm not flaming! just curious)? its not like you can put a water pump on half *** or anything and have it run fine for a little while before it breaks if it where the installers fault (well, at least i wouldnt think so).

 

whats wrong with getting a gm delco one?
u get what u pay for....
i'm really suprised that 4 cheap ones went out on ya...lol

 

GM shop manual for '95 specs that you add two pellets of anti leak compound to keep the seals conditioned on the water pump.

They have their own partnumber, but the pellets are "Bars Leak", as near as I can tell. I have 95k on my stock pump.

Might want to try that before replacing the pump.

Z28

 

electric waterpump all the way. no more leaks 8-10rwhp.

 

Well, I dont really want to go the electric route. How does the opti affect the water pump? I've never had this many cooling issues before. Do you guys think i should maybe try a lower presure cap maybe?

Zach Horn

 

Seems like you using acid as your coolant

 

well im just posting things to look into, the opti drives the water pump so i would assume that improper instalation can affect its performance to some extent. you can do the electric pump idea, but thats just a bandaid, and if it is somthing besides the water pump, eventualy somthing else could go because the pump is no longer the weekest link

 

But the thing is, if I installed my optispark wrong, would it run perfect w/ no problems like it does now? How would you install the opti wrong and have it still run fine? Just curious cause i just bought another pump from napa, all bolted up, I bled the system, now i gotta run it w/ the new cap. (16psi vs 18psi) Chime in on what could exactly happen w/ the opti installed wrong. Thanks guys, appreciate it. P.S. where exactly can i get these two gm pellets, anything is worth a shot at this point

Zach Horn

 

The opti does NOT run the water pump. The water pump is attached to a shaft with a small gear that runs off the cam gear.